Author
Topic: Crystal Fire (Read 1250 times)

The year nineteen fortyfive a desperate end to a war that visited destruction on almost every country in the world. The United States of America it seemed would be the last free country of the world, but there a fiant glimmer of hope. A bomb, a bomb so powerful it could level cities in a instant, flash fry people, unleash terrors not yet known to the world.

The day the American airplane dropped the bomb something went wrong, horribly wrong. Buried hundreds of meters below the surface of Nagasaki was a huge crystal or irregualr porperties. When the atomic bomb went off it unearth the crystal and pulverized, but not disintergrated. Tiny miniscule shards of it traveled the winds of the earth unleashing a horrifying plague.

The plague was utterly blamed on the U.S. every ally turned against for unleashing what they thought a horrilbe bio-weapon, it went against all rules of warfare. Canada and Mexico sided with Hitler and beseeched the U.S. from both sides, with the bulk of it's armies abroad and it's navies patrolling away from home no one could stop the slaughter. Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Maimi, New Orleans were all razed. Burnt to the ground, wiped out of existense, each population sterilized by the troops of the Empire of Mexico.

Canada assaulted in a more civilized fashion, Seattle, Boise, Greatfalls, Bismark, St. Paul and Albany were all occupied and it's citizens inprisoned in their homes. New York was razed and it's mighty shipyards burned to the ground.

That was as far as the war went, the Plague of Nagasaki took root the day after New York fell, 89% of the population in east asia and and the Indo-china islands was wiped out. In the entire region crystal like growths were said to erupt from the ground and odd tree like growth formed slowly and through a toxic pollen into the air. The change was almost over night, fire, ice, explosives, nothing seemed to rate of growth only to spread it more.

Then there came the reports of mutants a month or so later, beasts and altered humans that thrived in crystals. Some even had crystals that grew on them, the people of the crystals were quick tempered and often irreasoanble, the animals were wild. The mutants have incredible powers that can be subtle or horrificly obvious. One thing in common was that most mutants retained who they were, it was awkward to the say the least.

The year now nineteen fifty most of the world is covered in the plague of Nagasaki, or trying to hang onto the last vestiges of humanity. The crystals have grown at an alarming rate, some forming plants that covered the ground and made the soil useless and swarmed the waterways constricting travel by ships. Only the oceans remain free of the crystal taint. Humans have taken to living in great flying cities supported by enormous fans high above the plague, yet recent disputes on what to do with the crystal problem. Forty percent of livable land has been consumed by the lague and sixty percent of the fesh water ways...

I like alternate histories, I really do. But you need to pay attention to a few things.

If we tested the superbomb (trinity test July 16, 1945), why didn't it spawn the disease in the US desert? "Them" comes to mind.

You do realize that VE day (Victory Europe) happened May 8, 1945 and VJ (Victory Japan) happened (Aug 6th was nuclear day, VJ was officially 08/15/45), that there was little in the way of a Nazi threat, or even an Axis opposition.

The Russian Army was the only single standing force that could of been a threat to the US. Many of the top US military men wanted to keep fighting against their red allies for that reason. (Of course given the disease's origin and spread, this army would of soon been gone).

Mexico had a minimal standing army at the time. It was barely larger than a police force. It had no Navy. No, not true. It has some pre WWI frigates that would of casually been disposed of by the US coast guard.

All the Canadian Army and Navy were deployed the same places as the US forces. In fact, they were entrenched with all the British forces and all the other commonwealth forces. They had almost no home force, as defense of the Homeland was their primary concern. (The British/ Canadians considered the chance of a Japanese invasion minimal through the entire war.. though bombing on the other hand was perceived as a serious threat).

While everyone blamed the US and turned on us is plausable, the Allied propaganda machine could of simply said that the plague was of Japanese development and it was accidently released by the bombing?

Why weren't Mexico and Canada also hit with the plague? If it was so bad, wouldn they of had the population to invade or even care?

Why wasn't WWII put on hold as everyone had this huge loss of life. ("What if they declared a war and nobody came?").

Do you realize the Black Plague or the Flu Pandemic of the 1910s were not nearly as virilant at this bug, and they nearly brought civilization to its knees? Since the disease you postulated has a long incubation time (it would of taken at least two weeks for the Canadians to get to NY given the premise you presented...) the disease would of spread to the entire world.

If it took direct contact only, the crystals spread to the wind would of created a band of death across most of the Norther Hemisphere... much like Chernoybl or Mt. St. Hellen's distribution patterns.

Of course then the mutants occured and the world would of called an cease fire as all the forces would of started fighting the monsters. Heck the non mutated soliders from every sides (if there was active fighting anywhere except some isolated incidents in the Pacific) would of banded together and fought the monsters.

I am reminded of Andromeda strain, since sea water seems to destroy the crystals (otherwise sea life and whales and dolphins would of been mutated).

Giant fan cities. Where are they getting the fuel? I am sure atomic power would be out of vogue given the source of the plague. Balloon cities are more possible. Floating cities, recommissioned war ships would serve as the foundation of those cities.